It Takes More Than Good Fences To Make Good Neighbors.

The morning of the last Sunday of my turn to be on call for the four hospitals in our call group began quietly. I had just finished breakfast when the first call came in. A dog had been attacked by another dog and had some bleeding bite wounds. Before I brushed my teeth and finished dressing, another call came in. A dog was lame on a hind leg and the owner was worried. Before I got out the door, a third caller said she was pretty sure her dog had been poisoned and was in convulsions.

The first two callers were waiting outside the clinic when I arrived, and the third had just driven up. Her Shetland Sheepdog was stiff and shaking uncontrollably, and the woman carried her, wrapped awkwardly in her arms, into the clinic as I opened the door.

"Gracie was fine earlier this morning." She said. "I saw her eating something out by the back fence. It was gone by the time I got there. It wasn't long afterwards she started shaking like this."

Triage was easy. Gracie looked a lot like strychnine poisoning. The dog with bite wounds wasn't bleeding dangerously. The dog with a hind leg lameness could be a dislocated hip, an emergency, but not a dire emergency. Those two owners understood when I asked them to have a seat.

It may have saved Gracie's life that her owner brought her in so quickly. I gave the first dose of sedative like a small enema, easy even in a shaking dog and almost as quick acting as intravenously. That calmed her enough so I could place an IV catheter and give her an additional dose in the vein. A few minutes later she was resting quietly.

We moved Gracie onto a rack over our treatment "bathtub" and I put a small pill into her lower eyelid that would make her vomit. The drug is absorbed almost as rapidly that way as when given in the vein, and as soon as Gracie emptied her stomach I would be able to rinse any remaining drug out with eyewash, to minimize the dose.

The mess in the tub confirmed my suspicion. Mixed in the sloppy mess of food there were many small pale green granules. Strychnine. It is available over the counter as a rodenticides, to kill rats and mice.

Gracie lives in Lewiston at 8th St. E and Grelle. I don't think that poisoned food got over the back fence by accident. Gracie's owner thought it over carefully, and thought other pet owners in the neighborhood ought to know about it.

Malicious poisoning of pets is not very common. You can help avoid it by keeping your pets in a securely fenced yard. Dogs and cats that roam the neighborhood are at risk for many other perils besides malicious poisoning. Avoid leaving dogs unsupervised for long periods of time. They may be barking excessively and more of a nuisance than you realize. Build constructive relationships with neighbors. Even if you can't be friends, if you at least try to have a civil relationship with them, they may be less likely to do something extreme. A smaller kennel within a fenced yard would make it more difficult for someone to poison your dog.

And finally, deliberate poisoning of dogs or cats is a crime and should be reported to the police. It is difficult to prove but even if prosecution is unsuccessful, if you can get a police officer to ask some questions around the neighborhood or make some phone calls, that may help deter future incidents.